Jul 31st 2008 12:30PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Word on the street is that the Boston Red Sox are quite interested in Braves middle reliever/could be setup guy/ Harry Carey impersonator Will Ohman. Well, either that or Daniel Bard slept with Theo Epstein’s ladyfriend.

Bard, a former first round pick and teammate of Andrew Miller’s at Carolina (boo), is almost certainly headed out of Boston today. One scenario has him rolling to the ATL, or Mississippi as it were.
Besides the Red Sox, five other teams are discussing Ohman with the Braves, who are looking for a pitching prospect in return. A logical name that might surface in trade talks with Atlanta from the Red Sox farm system is Double-A pitcher Daniel Bard, who is 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 37 2/3 innings pitched for the Sea Dogs this season.
Of course, the other scenario is the increasingly likely Manny Ramirez Three Way (ew) deal between Pittsburgh, Boston and Florida. That freaky deal between such unlikely suitors would end up sending Bard to Pittsburgh in a package that would swap out Jason Bay and ManRam.

The Ohman deal sounds pretty freaking good for the Braves — the middle reliever is a free agent after this year anyway, and it’s unlikely the Braves would actually retain him. So picking up a pitcher of Bard’s potential would be a nice follow up to the Teixeira trade by Frank Wren (I’m sorry, I just feel like they could have gotten more).

Wren might be putting the press on Beane, and he should, but the problem that moving Manny is the first priority will likely remain until later in the afternoon.